Meet your bartender: Kitti at Sake

I know I’ve described bartenders as tiny before, but Kitti Kelley at Sake Sushi Bar & Lounge takes the teeny-tiny cake. Come on, even her name is adorable.

The 21-year-old Nederland resident worked her way up at the sushi bar from hostess to waitress and now bartender, which she’s been doing for about six months now.

“I love being able to sit and talk to the customers and hear their life stories,” she said. “It’s so awesome to hear their stories.”

She likes getting a little history lesson from drinkers, she said, even if it’s just their own personal history.

She’ll post up at your spot and get to know you, but out of the corner of her eye she’s keeping watch on customers’ beverages, never letting anyone go unnoticed. I’m pretty sure she has eyes in the back of her tiny, adorable head.

She likes mixing up the Sake Seduction, Sake’s signature drink that’s made with rum, triple sec, sweet and sour and orange juice. She likes to make Mai Tais, too, but when it’s time for her to drink, she said she loves a good Upside-Down Cake, made with amaretto, Malibu, orange juice and grenadine.

If you’re at Sake to eat, she recommends the Obi roll and the dumplings, which she said are really good at this sushi joint.

She’s so chipper and friendly it’s hard to imagine her getting upset but she said she’s not a big fan of patrons who talk down to her, like a guy who once went so far as to spell words at her because she couldn’t hear him over the sound of other diners.

“Don’t insult my intelligence just because I’m a bartender,” she said.

The best way to get on her good side?

“Just hold a conversation or say hi,” she said.

Sake is a popular happy hour spot, she said, and the bar gets especially crazy on Friday and Saturday nights.

You can find her behind the bar from 4:30 p.m. to close (around 10 p.m.) every Monday through Thursday.